Nazareth High School students learned Wednesday about the school closing in June.Paul Martinka/ photographer

Terence Fraser, a 17-year-old senior at Nazareth, was angered by the news of the school’s closing. (Paul Martinka/ photographer)

Shock, anger, sadness and confusion were among the emotions for Nazareth students yesterday afternoon just hours after they learned their school would be closing for good in June.

As first reported by The Post, Nazareth principal Providencia Quiles announced to the student body and faculty yesterday morning that the school would shutter its doors at the end of the semester due to a decrease in enrollment. Nazareth’s board of trustees made the final decision this week.

Nazareth, which opened in 1962, went from 602 students in 2006 to 311 this year, according to a press release. The Brooklyn school’s enrollment actually went up this year and was on track for a similar improvement in September, sources said, but the Catholic school owes the Brooklyn diocese upwards of $3 million, a debt that has been accumulating for 20 years. Nazareth’s tuition is $7,500 per year.

Sources said that selling the building would be more profitable for the diocese than keeping the school open. The diocese directed all questions to the board of trustees.

“The outlook for next year and the future based on applications and the data we have for admissions was not good,” said Alice Hession, the chair of Nazareth’s board of trustees. “The slight increase we have would not have continued. Enrollment is really the key for any school.”

The inner-city East Flatbush school graduates 98 percent of its students and 96 percent of them go on to college, Quiles said. It also currently 100 percent minority.

“I think this should never have happened,” said senior Terrence Fraser, a national merit scholar who hopes to attend Yale next year. “We’re a good school. We don’t have any crime or anything in our school. We put kids in some of the best institutions in the country. It’s just really angering.”

Students spoke about Nazareth as a tight-knit community and more like a family than a school. Some said that without the dedication of the school’s faculty, they would be on the street and certainly not in position to graduate. Anthony Thomas, a junior transfer from Boys & Girls, said the teachers were far more dedicated at Nazareth and he has learned much more since his school change.

“The teachers, they care so much honestly,” sophomore Rogelio Garnes said. “In other schools you don’t really find teachers that will stay after school for two hours and try to tutor you.”

Nazareth is also the home of a powerhouse girls basketball team, which was ranked No. 1 in the country in the preseason by ESPN. The boys basketball team has produced former Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. and Providence College legend Rob Phelps.

Academics and athletics at the school, Quiles said, were at a higher level than they have been for a long time. The football team is in the midst of a resurgence and the boys basketball team is undefeated in CHSAA Class B and the favorite to win a title.

“I’m just thinking it’s all about the money, that’s what they’re saying,” junior Keon Pollydore said. “The diocese is trying to get rid of them. I’m not Catholic, but I do know that it’s wrong to be greedy.”